Indian cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, treated like God by his fans, ended the long and tiring wait for his 100th international century on Friday at Dhaka's Shere Bangla National Stadium.
Tendulkar, the leading run scorer in the history of both Test and one-day cricket, achieved the most-coveted ton by taking a single off Shakib Al Hasan against Bangladesh in Asia Cup. Tendulkar's century came off 138 balls and was studded with 10 fours and a six.
The master blaster's 99th century had come against South Africa on March 12, 2011, at Nagpur during the World Cup. Friday's century was Tendulkar's 49th in one-dayers; he has 51 Test centuries.
Tendulkar, who was left stranded on 99 international hundreds for a year and four days, played Test series against England, the West Indies and Australia. He also featured in the recently concluded triseries in Australia but his bid to become the first batsman to score 100 international hundreds remained unfulfilled, although he came close on a few occasions.
Tendulkar has defied age and injury at every stage of his career. Whenever injuries threatened to stall his career, he pushed his body to the limit, and sometimes even beyond. Even the most threatening of all his injuries - the painful tennis elbow (in 2004) - couldn't break him. He cried out in agony, waited with hope for almost a year, tackled it with determination and ultimately conquered it like only he can.
In February 2010, Tendulkar became the first in world cricket to score a double hundred in one-day internationals, while in December 2010 he became the first to score 50 Test tons, both landmarks achieved against the best pace attack in world cricket - South Africa.
Wisden, regarded as the bible of cricket, named Tendulkar as the leading cricketer in the world for the year 2010.
In 2007, Wisden had identified Tendulkar as the player to have won such an award for 1998 - had it been instituted then.
Tendulkar, who realised his long-cherished dream when India won the World Cup in April 2011, was also named in Wisden's 2009 Test XI, at his accustomed number four position.
His passion for the game not only keeps him going, but also gives him the opportunity to reinvent himself. Each time he goes out on to the field he seems to be raising the bar for himself.
.jpg)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.jpg)
